My "Political" Rant of the month.Posted by Wayne
on Nov 1, 2011 at 8:22 PM |
Something's broken and it's not my Timex.

I think the biggest problems for *everyone*
in the USA is that the people who enact the
policy almost always see the positive results
and never the negative consequences from same.
No matter what ANY upper party members or their
biggest supporters do (on either side of the
isle), they’re set for life. They have their
friends and family taken care of, and will
always have the best medical/health care,
they’ve made the network connections to assure
financial independence etc.. etc.. so they’ve
already “won”.

Everything else in life once you have those
basics covered is just a game, and that’s what
our government does. They play the ping-pong
game of “more”.
And the only way to permanently assure that both
sides get and maintain “more” is to make sure
there will always be 2 sides in conflict.
Neither side will back off and neither side will
ever go so far as to force the other side to
fold.

Mutually Assured Fluctuating Balance of Wealth
and Power.

People want to blame “Big businesses” but they
aren’t doing anything different. “Big business”
acts the same today as it did 30 years ago.
And not every business that is successful is the
spawn of all evil. Many of them are big because
they’re smarter/faster/better than their
competition and treat their employees fairly.
(but that doesn’t make for a good headline, it
stirs no controversy)

People want to blame "Social Programs" (which
contrary to popular belief aren't "Socialist
Programs") But those programs are needed no
matter how horribly inefficient and corrupt they
are as well. But any time there is a problem
their entire existence comes under question.
Many of these programs have the monumentally
difficult task of trying to help those who want
to contribute while dealing with those who would
totally abuse the system. "Many will play, few
will win."

The real issues all stem from the fact that the
upper echelon of both parties are far more
corrupt than any business in the headlines.
(Enron can't hold a candle to The House and the
Senate when it comes to corruption.)

Lobbyists only have as much power as those
listening to them will give them. You can spent
$2-$2T and it won’t make a difference if the
politician in doing his/her job in the interests
of “the people” and not themselves/their party.

Another issue is that the US is really made up
of 4 groups right now.

A. Those who are set for life
B. Those who (despite the economy and despite
not being “rich” are doing ok and have hope they
will continue to do so)
C. Those who are struggling
D. And those who are not managing to make it at
all.

The press (depending on which agenda they want
to push today) would have you believe that there
are really only 2 groups, either A and B, or A
and D.
In doing so they assure that you will be/see the
other groups and rally to defend/condemn their
lack of representation (misdirection/continued
conflict)

Political Parties work first and foremost in the
interests of themselves and each other, benefits
to "the people" happen as a conciliation or
byproduct.

The #1 card in the game is misdirection. The two
parties are engaged in a never ending war of
“They’re wrong, we’re right!” “The people” will
suffer their own party doing almost anything in
the effort to further “our” ideology over “the
other guy”. (who paid attention to what *other*
bills were passed during the debt ceiling
debacle, or 9/11?)

What REALLY blows me away is that under the
blinders of “US Vs. Them”, people will
absolutely forgive (even defend) transgressions
they would NEVER have stood for otherwise.

Of course at the end of the day the Democrat and
GOP leadership are madly in love with each
other’s “We vs. They” philosophy. If either side
were to “give up” it would be a monumental
catastrophe for the money they rake in. Who
needs to fund a drive to push an un-opposed
idea, who’s going to tune in to watch an opinion
commentator talk about how “After putting a lot
of work into an issue another problem was solved
today”? Progress doesn’t sell nearly as many
commercials/ads/products/posters/etc.. as
“Scandal!, Fraud!, Look what “THEIR SIDE” did!
Doesn’t that make you angry?!, doesn’t that make
you want to get out there and blog, and donate
to this cause!?, and take back/keep the
Whitehouse!, and put this sticker on your
car….blah blah..”

Of course the game wouldn’t work if you didn’t
have a lot of lemmings lining up to choose sides
and start frothing at the mouth about every
transgression.

Remove yourself ENTIRELY from your party
beliefs for a minute, assume everyone else could
do the same.

Does anyone *honestly* believe that the
top 10 or so issues that plague the American
People couldn’t be solved if both parties had
the same “agenda” and in short order?

And I’m not even talking the issues that
probably can’t be agreed on (ie anything that
messes with core religious doctrine and it’s
zealots)

Poverty, Education, Hunger, Homelessness, Jobs,
The state of US financial affairs, diplomatic
relations,… They all have these two big anchors
attached to them pulling In two different
directions (usually BOTH away from the goal) The
political funding/spending alone for the past 10
years would have put huge dents in some of these
issues if not solved some/all of them forever.
Roughly 5Billion is spent on the presidential
race, that's just one microscopic portion of all
other spending that goes on 24/7/365. All the
other elected seats, the contributions, the
funding, the special companies setup just to run
smear ads/funnel money etc.. etc..

And while you could never get people to give up
those little buttons with donkeys and
elephants,..when you get right down to it,…if
you really talk to “The people” the majority are
more than happy to compromise on all but the
smallest number of issues if it means there are
real concrete results. And in a lot of cases
would do a “hostage swap” on the big issues as
well. Of course they’re also equally willing to
let those issues go unresolved forever under the
guise of “Well we can’t fix this problem because
THEY won’t let us, we’re keeping them at bay
though and one day we’ll win!”
The issues that can’t be worked out in a
reasonable manner? Well, at that point we should
all just agree to leave up to and issue vote of
the population of the individual states (We’ve
already determined that they cannot/will not be
solved as a nation so how could that be worse.)

The flip side of the coin is that there are
agenda made law party policies that no one on
either side wants or would ever want except to
challenge them would be to challenge "your own
party" and thus they get away with more
money/power grabbing.

(One of the big issues is inheritance,.. the
majority of the US population wants no
"imposition" on inheritance. What is left to you
by a dying loved one is yours period, almost no
one (outside of the tax collectors and the party
politicians" believe there should be any
taxation or penalties for such. Yet the laws
that steal some of that inheritance are on the
books.

The comparisons of the wrongs of the left and
the right (which are numerous, perpetual, and
inevitable) are simply the pushing and pulling
of the pistons that drive the “more machine”
that make a small percentage of people at the
tops of both parties, and their friends and
families very, very rich and powerful.

The great trick (misdirection again) is that
conventional wisdom leads you to believe (if
you’re un-brainwashed/undecided) that one is
right and one is wrong. That somehow one must be
working against the American People and One is
working for them. There really isn’t a poster
that says “They’re both working for themselves
and any benefits seen outside the party
structure are purely co-incidental and/or are
concessions to maintain standing” (We all guess)
But then we’re told that not choosing is just
like giving up, and no one wants to give up.
It’s called the false choice fallacy (another
marketing tool)

And yet people line up, smile like sheep and
open their wallets, give kneejerk condemnation,
give hypocritical defense, and fool themselves
they’re the smart/right one because they chose
getting punched in the face with a red glove
over getting punched in the face with a blue
glove.

*************

I used to be pretty Socially Liberal and
Fiscally Conservative, but I realize lately I’d
gladly give up a lot of ground on pretty much
every issue in exchange for some real progress
and stability that helps “The People” and not
“The Politicians”. Especially if I had a
shred of hope that 75% of every dollar I spent
wasn't going to waste or theft.

I guess I need to get into politic$$.

A Good Read.Posted by Wayne
on July 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM |
Where's it from? Me and some book store.

I recently bought a book based on the
following criteria; I was leaving the B&N, I
wanted out quick, and this book "looked good"
and was on the shelf next to me. (I was pretty
sure I had heard that the author was ok as well
but that was a vague afterthought) The end
result was that I bought
Live Free or Die by John Ringo. Despite
having the word "Ringo" in his name, this is
really a good gritty read. I tore through it in
about 3 nights. I usually read 1-2 chapters of a
book a night before bed, with this book I
couldn't stop reading. The writing and character
interaction are very casual and I feel more like
one of my friends is telling me this story than
a fiction writer.

A good premise, some comedy elements, and you
can overlook the huge plot holes that pretty
much all sci-fi has, without feeling like you've
been had.